1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and system for introducing an active material to a chemical process, and, more particularly, to a method and system for the introduction of the active material in order to tailor the chemical process for optimal performance.
2. Description of the Related Art
The fabrication of integrated circuits (IC) in the semiconductor industry typically employs plasmas to create and assist surface chemistry within a plasma reactor to remove material from and deposit material to a substrate. In general, plasmas are formed within the plasma reactor under vacuum conditions by heating electrons to energies sufficient to sustain ionizing collisions with a supplied process gas. Moreover, the heated electrons can have energy sufficient to sustain dissociative collisions. Therefore, a specific set of gases under predetermined conditions (e.g., chamber pressure, gas flow rate, etc.) are chosen to produce a population of charged species and chemically reactive species suitable to the particular process being performed within the chamber (e.g., etching processes where materials are removed from the substrate or deposition processes where materials are added to the substrate). While it is known that certain materials introduced into the processing chamber during the plasma process can affect or enhance the process performed in the chamber, the mechanisms for delivery of such materials into the process chamber are complex and expensive.
Although the formation of a population of charged species (ions, etc.) and chemically reactive species is necessary for performing the function of the plasma processing system (i.e., material etch, material deposition, etc.) at the substrate surface, other component surfaces on the interior of the processing chamber are exposed to the physically and chemically active plasma environment and, in time, can erode. The uncontrolled erosion of exposed components in the plasma processing system can lead to a gradual degradation of the plasma processing performance, can contribute contamination to the plasma processing, and, in general, is such that erosion of these components affects specific processes in the plasma processing system. Thus, the semiconductor industry has primarily focused on monitoring and controlling the erosion of exposed components in a plasma processing system.